BJP vs Cong over 'sulking' Selja's absence from Haryana poll campaign

With Congress leader Kumari Selja staying away from campaigning for Haryana assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party stepped up its attack on the opposition party over the "infighting" with Union minister Amit Shah on Monday saying it has shown its "anti-Dalit" face by insulting a Dalit leader like her.

IMAGE: Congress MP Kumari Selja. Photograph: Shrikant Singh/ANI Photo

However, Selja asserted that she is a "Congressi" and parried questions about her being upset, saying these are internal matters of the party.

Taking to X, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala also said Selja will join the campaign for the party on September 26.

Selja was learnt to be upset after the Congress gave a free hand to her bete noire and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in ticket distribution, with most candidates who got the tickets being his loyalists.

Hooda's loyalists had also been accommodated on the majority of the 17 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs).

The BJP has been trying to woo Selja.

Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar stated last week that Selja was sulking and invited her to join the BJP. But Selja said the rival party was doing politics.

Talking to PTI Videos, Selja, when asked if she was still upset, quipped, "maybe the BJP is more worried".

"In party, there are many things, but these are party's internal matters. To make party win, we worked hard earlier too, in the Lok Sabha polls. We further worked to strengthen the Congress party on the ground, fight battle of people of Haryana, and that of the workers. And taking this work forward, we now have to form a Congress government," Selja said.

Asked if there was any reason of staying away from campaigning, she quipped, "we will start in two-three days".

About Sunday's meeting with party leadership, she said, "You keep meeting party leaders, discussion takes place and these things go on."

Asked why the BJP was trying to woo her, Selja said in a lighter vein, "As I was silent (for few days), so they started to say something. There is no such thing, even they and everyone knows Selja is a 'Congressi'."

About speculations that she may join the BJP, she said, "You will come to know, keep your cameras fixed."

On virtually throwing her hat in the ring for the Haryana chief minister's post last month in case the Congress gets a majority, and whether she was still firm on this, Selja said the question is (from) whichever section (of a society a CM) becomes, Dalit is also a section in that.

"I don't want to say this again and again, I may be born into a Dalit family, but despite that we represent '36 biradari' (sections of society) and Congress represents all sections," she said.

Replying to a question, Selja said, "Together we will form the government (in Haryana)".

Selja, a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Sirsa in Haryana, got support from another party leader from the state, Surjewala.

"MP and elder sister Kumari Selja @Kumari_Selja will also address a public meeting in Narwana on 26th (September) at 12 noon and will campaign for the Congress. Under the leadership of Shri @RahulGandhi and Shri @kharge ji, Congress will fight, win and make the dreams of Haryana come true," Surjewala said in a post on X in Hindi.

Last week, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had said there was no dissidence in the Haryana Congress.

"My good friend (Kumari) Selja ji has not said a single word against Mr (Bhupinder Singh) Hooda, nor has Mr Hooda said a word against Ms Selja. So we are a united party. We will fight this election in a united manner," Chidambaram had said.

In a related development, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Monday urged Dalit leaders to sever ties with the Congress and other "casteist parties" and follow the path laid down by Dr BR Ambedkar.

Mayawati's comments come amid attempts by the BSP-INLD alliance to position itself as a pro-Dalit alternative in Haryana. The remarks are also being seen in the context of Selja, the party's Dalit face in Haryana, being allegedly disgruntled over ticket distribution for the October 5 polls.

Addressing an election rally at Tohana in Haryana, Union Home Minister Shah alleged that the Congress is an "anti-Dalit party".

"The Congress always insulted Dalit leaders, be it Ashok Tanwar or sister Kumari Selja. The Congress insulted everyone," he said.

Recently, former Haryana chief minister Khattar had invited Selja to join the BJP amid reports that she was staying away from the campaign for the assembly polls.

On Friday, while addressing a poll rally in Gharaunda, Khattar had said, "There is so much infighting there (in Haryana Congress) and there is no clarity about their chief ministerial face. There is a fight between the father and the son (Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deepender Hooda). The father says he will become the CM while son says he will. Besides them, other leaders also have desire (for the CM post)."

"There is our Dalit sister (who is) sitting at home. A large section of people are today thinking about what they should do. Many people were upset with them and we brought them into the party fold. We are ready with an offer and if (she) comes, we are ready to induct her," he had said.